Carl Christian Philipp Reichel

German painter, draughtsman, engraver. Relative of Georg Dericker. Younger brother of medallist and miniaturist Johann Jacob Reichel (1778–1856), elder brother of engineer Casimir Reichel (1797–1870). Born in Warsaw (1788) in the family of Saxon engraver and medallist Jan Jacob Reichel (1737–1801), who worked at the Warsaw Mint until its closure after the Third Partition of Poland (1796) and followed King Stanislaw II August Poniatowski to St Petersburg (1797). Joined his father and elder brother in St Petersburg (1801), where he studied portraiture under Stepan Schukin at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1801–09). Awarded minor silver medals (1807, 1808), minor gold medal (1808) and a major gold medal and first-class certificate (1809). Visited Warsaw with his elder brother (1810). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Paris (1810–11), where he was instructed by Jacques-Louis David, Baron François Gérard and Claude-Joseph Vernet. Forced by exchange-rate problems to return to St Petersburg (1811). Spent a month in Dresden (1811), where he copied Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of King Charles I (1632). Painted portraits of collector Alexei Tomilov (1813), actor Yakov Shusherin (1814), Aleksander Orlowski (1815), Prince Boris Yussupov (1816), Princess Natalia Scherbatova (1816), Princess Praskovia Yussupova (1816), Princess Tatyana Golitsyna (1816), Count Micha? Wielhorski (1816), Princess Luise von Biron (1816), Princess Anna Prozorovskaya (1816), Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky (1817), Princess Vera Gagarina (1817) and Count Nikolai Mordvinov (1817). Moved to the town of Tulchin in the Ukraine (1819–41), where he painted a portrait of Count Jan de Witte (1819) and married Sofia Anastasieva, who gave birth to their children Alexei (1828), Anna (1831) and Sofia (1835). Lived at his younger brother’s estate in Novgorod (1841–43), where he painted portraits of Alexander Herzen, Natalia Zakharina and Nikolai Ogaryov (1842). Moved to Moscow (1843), where he painted portraits of historian Timofei Granovsky (1843) and amateur artist Andrei Sapozhnikov (1845). Travelled with his family to Siberia (1845) to live with his wife’s mother Maria Kruglikovskaya (1790–1863), who had married the Decembrist Alexei Yushnevsky (1812) and followed him to Siberia (1829), but had been refused permission to return to European Russia after his death (1844). Lived in Irkutsk (1845–48), where he painted portraits of Count Fyodor Tolstoy (1846) and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (1846). Moved to the town of Kyakhta on the Mongolian border (1848), where he painted icons for the Cathedral of the Resurrection (1853) and portraits of Prince Sergei Troubetzkoy (1854) and Comtesse Catherine de Laval de la Loubrerie (1854). Remained in Siberia with his younger daughter Sofia after his wife and mother-in-law were granted permission to live in Kiev Province (1855). Rejoined his family in Kiev Province (1857), but left his wife shortly afterwards and moved to Tulchin in Podolia Province (1857). Died in the town of Tulchin (1857). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1800s). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1800s), Romanticism in Russia at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (1995) and Play and Passion in Russian Fine Art at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (1999–2000).